Recalling the Nightmare
by Ms. Donovan and Ms. Midnight
Summary: JackSal, sort of. I'd like to say it was love at first sight. But I first saw him when I was five, and couldn't understand love, what he was looking at, or why he was so sad.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

I'd like to say that it was love at first sight. But I first saw him when I was five, and couldn't understand love, what I was looking at, or even why he was so sad. I'd prefer to say that it was love at first relevant sight, but then I was lost, cold, confused, and, upon seeing that pale face, scared out of my wits. And after that, it wasn't love. I can't really tell you when I first realized that he was special to me.

But that's not the point, nor is it comprehendable. So I'll try again to begin my story.

It was thirteen years ago, when I was five, when I first went to a cemetary at night, alone. I don't remember why, though I think my older sister dared me to. But still, I went to the cememtary, and hid behind a tombstone as someone who looked like a stick figure moaned and woke up. All around, the ruins of a coffin and skeletal beings lay as testament to what had happened. I even stole a peice of wood with a pumpkin carved on it, to prove to myself that it wasn't a dream.

The stick figure began to sing, lamenting what he had just done. I, being naive, thought that he had just let some kid see that he was Santa (he was dressed like him). Then the stick-Santa got excited and ran into the crypt. I wanted to follow, not realizing that a crypt would have dead people, but I couldn't open the doors. So I ran home, after picking up a peice of the trim from his costume (he had ripped it off, revealing a pinstripe suit). I didn't think anything of it, assuming it was some sort of disturbed Christmas miracle.

* * *

Thirteen years later, I returned to that town. My family had moved away, but now I was ready to go to the college nearby. I was staying in some cheap hotel, and was in the market for a small house. But within one week of getting there, I had found that cemetary. I walked through it, realizing that it was here that I had seen something truly unreal. I fished in my purse for the wood chip and trim, which I had taken to keeping with me at all times. The pumpkin carved on the wood was nearly gone from thirteen years of a small girl rubbing on it with her finger. But the trim I had made sure to keep in good condition. It was only starting to disintigrate. I approached the crash site of the coffin and heard something rattle against a stone. I bent down and saw that I had kicked a bone. Not a human one. Something that looked like a piece of... _antler?_ I pocketed it, deciding that this was small proof of my sanity. 

And then I heard it. The strains of a song coming from the crypt. A shadow next to me started to sing softly, so I couldn't hear it. I walked to the crypt, preparing to open the door and hoping that all I would see would be a stone coffin and cobwebs. When I flung the doors away, I just saw... black.

"What the-" I took a step forward and tripped, plumetting headfirst into a childhood dream.

* * *

**Well, this is the first installment. You will like it. I command you to like it!**

**Yes, technically this is JackSally, but not in the classic form. Deal. **

**And for those of you who've never read anything by Ms Donovan And Ms Midnight, this is a joint account between me (Kali Donovan) and my friend (Semine Midnight). This is for a contest we're having (which Semine will probably win...). We write romances in different categories (i.e. Teen Titans, Abarat, Sly Cooper games, etc.), and put each other in them. Sally is based off of Semine. **

**The whole point of that was to encourage you to read our other stuff on this account and on our individual accounts. Semine writes better than the above swill, and I usually do better than the above swill. (I was experimenting with doing a 1st person fic from the OC's POV.)**

**So please review and check out our other stuff.**

**Thoughts while writing: I am Lord Prolot! (I misspelled prologue, and Semine screamed the aforementioned quote.)**

**Felafel is a religious sacrament, and God was gay. The Jews aren't the chosen ones, the gays are (Matthew was a tax collector and couldn't spell, so Jew came out instead of Gay.)**

**Semine: Apologies to Jews and gays.**

This was written entirely while listening to the soundtrack of Nightmare.

This is Kali; sleep deprived and out.


	2. Chapter 1

I landed flat on my face in a (shallow) pile of leaves. If it hadn't been for the music tempting me up and onward, I would have stayed in the leaves, reveling in my humiliation. But I was good (and controlled by the lull of violins), and got up, heading into the town below.

Wham. I was hit (figuratively) by the (lacking) color and (creepy) sounds surrounding me, all apparently centered on the idea of scary. Ness. The sheer monstrosity of the creatures around me was horrifying enough, and the volume of their music wasn't helping ease the fear. Sheer grotesquerie was assaulting me from all sides, screaming in my ears, pushing me through the crowd.

But eventually I figured out (somewhat) how the current of the mob moved, and I directed myself to a small alley with no traffic. Perhaps I thought I was dreaming, or I was so shocked and horrified that my vocal cords had gone on holiday, but I had not yet screamed or whimpered.

That is, until the hand landed on my shoulder. That ivory, cold, skeletal hand. It curled around my shoulder, and a small whimper escaped me as I turned around (slowly, a la horror film) to see that grinning skull.

"Hi!"

I ran the hell away. And ran into a tree. It politely (hah) asked me to scream, I complied, and ran away (again) to the nearby pumpkin patch, tripped over a vine, and passed out under a geological abomination.

* * *

When I awoke, the sun was up, the geological abomination was poking me, and I decided that waking up in the mud was a terrific way to wake up from a nightmare. It didn't work, sadly.

I slowly sat, then stood, up, rubbing my head and hoping I had a hangover. That would explain so much. But the light, though annoying, wasn't torture, and the act of being awake, though tedious, wasn't a chore.

"Hello, there!" a frighteningly cheerful and familiar voice said. I spun around and lost my balance, landing on my bum, scittering away until my back was pressed against a tombstone. I was whimpering.

This was not a hangover. "Hallo." I somehow had managed to get my mouth to operate without the brain's interference.

"Have you seen Sally?" The skeleton took a step forward. I was both terrified and pissed on some profound level, because a memory was nagging at the back of my mind, and it wasn't coming out yet.

But that was less pressing. "Holy shit, Batman! How did you know my name? STALKER!"

"Um… What's a bat man? And I'm looking for my girlfriend, Sally Finkelstein. Have you seen her? She's a ragdoll, about six feet tall, with red hair."

"You don't know about Batman?" I thought for a moment. "Meh. You're not missing much. I haven't seen anyone who looks like a ragdoll. Sorry. I'm Sally Marx." Apparently my survival instincts (which were telling me to mace that guy's ass now) were not telling my body to do anything. And I was being nice.

"Oh. Sorry to bother you then. I'm Jack Skellington." Jack stood up to his full height (which was entirely too tall), and left, heading toward what I could only guess was the town.

My back felt as if it was plastered to the headstone, and the sun (a pumpkin!) was making me overly warm. And then it hit me.

"Santa!" Fuck. I winced as I realized what I had said. Jack stopped, stood straight, and turned slowly.

"What?"

"Don't ask, don't tell. I'm not going to lie to you, Santa-sorry. Go find Sally (the other one)."

"What'd you call me?"

"_Don't ask, don't tell._ You really do not need to listen to my insane ravings. Especially ones from my childhood. So go and find your girlfriend." Jack turned slowly, and walked away.

And it sounds cliché, but that is and was the worst first day in a town ever. Ever.

* * *

**Yeah, cheesy. Yeah, short. DEAL!**

**What's that? Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be nice to my readers. Hmm... Sorry? Well, not really, but you get the point.**

**A note to my new readers: This is Kali, the 'Donovan' part of Ms Donovan and Ms Midnight. So this is completely different than Bonedaddy and a Wannabe Witch (by the Midnight part of the account). Same verse, same account, different plots, OCs, and writers. So they're exactly the same, only different.**

**For my returning readers: Hi!**

**Review please and get a cybercookie!**

This is Kali; sleep deprived and out.


	3. Chapter 2

**Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening to ye! Here is chappie 2 (the first part is a Prolouge) of this wonderful story whose title I forget. But I'm posting, so deal!**

**Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

I entered HalloweenTown, looked around, and rubbed my eyes. It looked like some drawing my sister sent me a week ago. But it was pointy and dark and thin, and somehow didn't seem real. Like a dream. Or a Nightmare. But no matter.

I began to walk aimlessly, peering into shops, trying not to shriek, looking for some way to gain currency. Everyone seemed to be on an eternal tab, as far as I saw, but maybe they paid each other in spider webs or screams or starlight or some other ethereal thing. They certainly seemed like they could.

As I reached a store marked, "Evens and Starts," the door opened and smacked me in the nose, sending me downwards into a pile of refuse. For the second time that day, I looked up from a blurry ground straight into the pumpkin sun.

"Oh dear! I'm so sorry, did I hurt you?" A small face on a thin neck peered down at me, and the brightest and longest red hair fell down into my face, stinging my eyes.

"It's okay…" Her image finally registered. Six feet tall, rag doll, red hair. "Sally Finkelstein."

"Yes?" She looked confused, but helped me up. I wiped my bum before replying to her.

"Jack is looking for you. Did I get it all off?" I turned to let her make sure my bum was clean. She wiped off a newspaper ad off of my tailbone.

"Oh. Thank you for telling me. If you see him, tell him I'll be at home. I was shopping for supplies." She lifted a black paper bag full of frogs and fish eyes.

"Will do." I turned to leave, then tripped on a poster for a carnival from eight years ago. And planted my face straight onto the pavement. The clown face from the poster grinned at me, and I screamed. Hands grabbed my waist and pulled me out of the poster, and I nearly shrieked again when I realized it was Sally.

"Thanks," I said, smiling embarrassedly. Sally just smiled blithely and turned to go, when her eyes widened and she looked worried.

"SALLY!"

"Yes?" I replied, turning to where the voice had come from. Santa-ImeanJack- was running up the street, smiling (hard not to do when you're a skeleton), his arms open wide.

I realize that I should have felt a little more disappointed when I remembered the other Sally, but it really didn't hurt much. Just a little, the small amount when you find out someone wasn't looking earnestly for you. Jack ran past me and hugged Sally, lifting her up and spinning her around. It didn't seem like a stick figure could lift her, but he did.

I looked both ways, and then snuck off to somewhere where I wasn't a third wheel for people I barely knew. Unless you counted seeing Jack when I was five, but I didn't really _know _him.

About halfway down the block, I heard my name called. But, knowing the other Sally was nearer to Jack, I ignored it.

"Sally! Thank you for helping me!" A pause. "Sally? What's wrong?" I turned. Jack was looking at me.

"Oh. Sorry. Thought you were talking to your Sally. You're welcome. But I really didn't do that much." I waited for any reason that I shouldn't run away and find refuge. Sadly, Jack continued to talk.

"Would you like to have dinner with us? We have entirely too much space in the dining room for the two of us, and Sally is an excellent cook." I would normally refused an offer from people I'd never met, but Jack just looked so earnest, I couldn't turn him down. It was like telling a small child that they couldn't have candy.

Jack's house was a tall tower that shouldn't have been possible. Physics was out there crying over the violation that was his tower. It was huge inside, and the dining room was positively beautiful. Below the inches of dust and cobwebs, of course. Like the entire house. Regardless. Beautiful.

"So, Sally, how did you come to HalloweenTown?" Sally smiled with her inch wide mouth. I still was getting over the people here.

"Well, I fell through a crypt door, then entered HalloweenTown, ran away, and passed out under that creepy hill." I smiled inwardly at Sally's look of surprise. It's not nice, but I suppose the entire town took joy at discomfort, so I figured it wasn't impolite.

"And how did you meet Jack? And what do you say about this sauce? I'm not sure there's enough eyejuice, but it's a matter of taste."

I tried not to retch the pasta out. "Well, he was Sa- He was there, looking for you, when I woke up." I smiled pleasantly, remembering that smiling suppressed the gag reflex. I had seen the bread skitter across the plate.

Jack looked up from his pasta. "Where are you staying?"

I stopped like a deer in headlights. "Uhmmmm… Under the geological abomination, I suppose. It was so nice as to wake me up…"

"We can't have that. Take the third floor. It's spacious, mostly clean, and far away enough from us that you don't feel like you're crashing with us." Again, Jack smiled that irresistible smile. It split his face in two. It wasn't irresistible like Johnny Depp, but like the look of a small child or your best friend.

"Are you sure? You've already done so much for me," I said, smiling and shaking my head.

"You're new, Sally," other Sally said, "it's the least we could do." She looked up from the glass of wine she was swirling distractedly, and looked over at her boyfriend for a moment, whose attention was focused on me.

'Ooh. Awkward,' I thought and stared back down at my pasta. It moved. I smiled, suppressing nature's little way of saying, "Ew, don't put that in your mouth!"

"Thank you both so much. Is there a bed there? Or should I just pile up some linens in a corner and shiver myself to sleep?" I still smiled, to tell them I was joking, and to keep from vomiting. I took a sip of wine, hoping that the odd aroma wasn't nightshade.

Sally and Jack just sat there, looking at each other. "Do we…_have_ a second bed?" Sally rose her eyebrows at her boyfriend worriedly.

"I'm sure it's _somewhere_… Under the pile of books in the library?"

I nearly jumped across the table and hugged him. A room devoted to books in a private home. Joy!

"No, that's that painting that Lock, Shock, and Barrel gave you."

"Not _that_ pile of books in the library, the _other _pile of books in the library."

"Isn't that Zero's hidey-hole?"

"What about the one across from the one on my desk?"

"I thought that was the old MassChrist Tree."

"Christmas, dear, Christmas. It may have been years ago, but you should remember. I meant the one next to that pile."

I was ready to cry at all of the piles of books there were.

"There may be a bed under those. It makes sense. Either a bed or random spears pointing up."

"True. It'll take a few days to put the books away, so she'll have to curl up on linens. We have a few curtains that are mostly clean…"

"Joy. But it's the best offer so far. How much do you want for rent?"

Sally stopped and counted on her fingers. "I think our expenses are covered by the fear you'll produce in the Mayor." She gave a little laugh. "If you insist, then you can help us this Halloween and credit some of the screams to us."

I blinked, then realized that must be some sort of sordid currency. "Okay. Well. Then." A long awkward silence ensued.

I ate the pasta, which was surprisingly good, and wondered at the fact that I officially had a place to stay and all I had to do was creep people out.

* * *

**That was it! And you should like it, because it's four pages worth of blood, sweat, and tears! (ew) And if you don't like my oxford commas, then deal! (I keep getting burned by my grammar-Natzi friends because of my comma before 'and' in a list. And I'm fed up with it.)**

**So that my new readers know, this is Kali Donovan. My partner in crime is Semine Midnight. We churn out this swill, as well as other stories. So here be PLUGS! (run in shock and fear, children, for there be PLUGS in these waters!)**

**Semine Midnight: She does pretty stuff. She has her own account. Just search for her. She's got a lot of Artemis Fowl stuff.**

**Our other stuff: We do two types of things right now: Contest stuff and Collaberations. This was a contest peice. We write swill with each other in them, and then give a pizza to the person with the most reviews. So yes, the second Sally in this peice is the personification of Semine. She has been consulted for some banter. Collaberations are rarer and funnier, with entirely too many drugs involved (all legal, kiddies. like oxygen and ice cubes.) **

**Moi: I do stuff like this in the Titan verse. Deal. It hasn't been updated in FOREVARRRRRR! Deal. But it's okay, considering when I wrote some of it (like, two years ago. Woooooooooo).**

**And that's all for tonight, dearies. Review and praise the high lord of Netflix!**


End file.
